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Show BRITISH AID IN PACIFIC Ex-Representative Norris PoullOti of California, Republican, returned from London recently and refused to be quoted in the press on what he had learned there about British aid to the U. S. A. against Japan. Finally, confronted with the details of a conversation in which he had participated, Poulson admitted that he had discussed the Pacific war with two influential members of the British parliament. "Just what sort of help can we expect frofn you people once Germany Ger-many Is knocked out?" Poulson asked them. "Well, we've got an army of over 7,000.000 Indians," one of the two Britons replied. "You can have them." "But you know perfectly well we cannot rely on them," Poulson said bluntly. "You'll be lucky if they don't fight against you; let alone fight for you against Japan." I The Britisher admitted he, too, was worried about the Indians, but ! added, "At any rate, there's a large army of Australians and New Zea-landers." Zea-landers." "In other words," countered Poul-son, Poul-son, "you people here on the island I are going to pull out just as soon as you can, leaving to your colonir als the responsibility for any aid we I get in the Pacific." l "That's about right," was the re- ply. "We've had five years of war j here. That's enough." Note Despite congressional con-j con-j cern, some high U. S. navy men are not enthusiastic about either British or Russian help against Japan. Ja-pan. They feel U. S. forces can do I the job themselves. When the British wanted to send ! a naval force to cooperate with the American fleet in the Philippines, Admiral King objected and the President Pres-ident virtually had to overrule him. BRITISH TROOPS PROTECT GREEKS For some reason the news was suppressed in the United States, but a very significant event took ! place in Salonika, Greece, during the trouble between the British ! and the EAM-ELAS Greeks. When the British ordered troops in Salonika to suppress the Greeks, the troops sided with the Greeks and refused to fire on them. The troops were a garrison of the British Indian army. The Indians threw their weight on the side of j the Greek organization which bitterly bitter-ly opposed the return of King I George, and which Churchill chums to be communist. There was no rioting or bloodshed. The Indian troops simply cooperated with the ; Greeks. Simultaneously Krishna Menon, secretary of the India league, made ! a speech in London attended by sev- eral members of the British parliament parlia-ment in which he praised the Indian troous in Salonika and said: j "They go in their landlords' cars and vote against him." The incident is considered extremely ex-tremely important not only as it effects Greece, but as it effects ef-fects India and the Far East. General Stilwell, when in the Burma theater, was reported hy U. S. Ambassador William Phillips Phil-lips as considering Britisli-In- dian troops mercenaries who would not put their hearts into any battle as long as India was not given its independence. a SECOND CALVIN COOLIOGE In more ways than one, Harry Truman Tru-man is like Calvin Coolidge. He comes from the same backwoods origin. He seldom makes speeches on the senate floor. He Is thrifty, remembers the days when the drugstore drug-store paid him $3 a week. But more than anything else Truman Tru-man has the same brand of Coolidge political luck. The lightning hit Cal first during the Boston police strike, later when the party bosses in the smokefilled room at the Blackstone hotel wanted a good composite vice president to go with Harding. The lightning struck Truman when his investigating committee hurtled him to fame, later when the Democratic Demo-cratic bosses dining at the White House decided that he was the compromise com-promise candidate to replace Henry Wallace. That is the man who has assumed the life insurance duties of vice president pres-ident of the United States. He will be worth watching. CAPITAL CHAFF C When Allied troops entered a little Belgian town for the first time the local church warden climbed to the carillon tower of the church and the bells started to ring out "The Star-Spangled Banner." Next came "God Save the King" and, finally, "Swanee River." C. John Danaher of Connecticut, who failed of reelection to the senate in November, may get back here even though he lost out to Brien McMa-hon. McMa-hon. Connecticut law requires a four-month notice before an election to replace the late Francis Ma-loney Ma-loney can be held, and Republican Governor Ray Baldwin may name Republican Danaher to serve in the interim, with Danaher also running in the election. C. Burma engineers have coined a new word to describe jungle trails. A fairly good trail is described as "jeepable." |